


The Return

by Moondragon8



Series: Butterfly Effect [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Homeworld is Horrible, Music, more fluff than angst this time THANK THE STARS
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2019-12-25 23:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 13,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18271265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moondragon8/pseuds/Moondragon8
Summary: Steven Universe is a normal boy-as normal as one can be with a gem in your stomach, a last name like Universe, and a dead alien mom you know nothing about. And then one day, a spaceship lands in Beach City...and nothing is the same.Sequel to Butterfly Effect-or more accurately, Butterfly Effect is a prequel to this. Strongly recommended you read the previous work, as it explains basically everything you need to know about what's going on here.





	1. Sparkle Stuff

School was out for summer, and Steven was happy. Middle school had been better than he had expected, but he missed Connie, and he was excited to hang out with her every day now. 

He pushed down on the pedals of his bicycle, making his wobbly way across the boardwalk. Connie had said she would meet him at the fry shop. (Her parents were pretty strict, but Connie hadn’t told them about the...magic stuff, so they could still hang out.)

Steven wobbled another few feet before he noticed something odd in the corner of his eye and turned to look. 

Something was coming through the sky. 

He almost fell off his bike, then got off, hastily shoved it aside, and broke into a run. He wasn’t sure what this meant, but if Connie was in danger, he didn’t care.

“Connie!” he called, coming up on the fry shop. 

“Steven!” she said happily, jumping off the stool she had been sitting on. They exchanged a quick hug, but Steven was on edge and Connie was too good of a friend not to notice. 

“What’s wrong?” she said. “Is it….you know...sparkle stuff?”  
Sparkle stuff was their code name for anything Gem-related. After a giant bug-thing had attacked Steven and Connie when Connie was seven and Steven had summoned a shield, Steven had decided it was time to tell Connie everything...well, after he told her he didn’t want to be friends anymore. “Sparkle stuff” had by now been used to mean Steven floating off the ground when school was let out (fifth grade), Steven summoning a bubble, a giant worm trying to eat Connie, and Steven almost summoning a shield again. 

Steven nodded, reconsidered, shook his head, and finally said “Maybe. I don’t know.” 

Connie briefly squeezed his hand and then said “What is it?”

Steven pointed at the sky. 

Connie gasped and drew back. “Is that a spaceship?”

“I think,” Steven said, squinting. It was a funny shape, but as it grew larger, he could make out that it was green. 

Connie’s eyes widened behind her glasses. “What do we do?”

Steven shook his head. “I don’t know! The gem creatures are scary, but they don’t have spaceships!”

Connie clutched his hand, and Steven was suddenly painfully aware of the fact that he was only eleven, and didn’t really know what to do, and Connie was the only other person who knew about this and she wasn’t even in middle school yet. 

Except…

“Dad!” Steven burst out, and Connie turned to him. “My dad, he-he knew my Mom better than anyone. He’d know what to do!” 

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Connie said. 


	2. Crazamazing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie thinks about Steven.

Connie thought she maybe had a crush on Steven Universe. 

She wasn’t really sure. Some of the girls in her class had crushes on boys, but that just meant they acted mean or stupid around them. And Connie always felt more smart around Steven. 

But he was her best friend, and always had been, ever since they were little. They both liked books and animals, and they just  _ clicked.  _

But things had been….different for a while. Ever since two years ago, when that giant bug-creature had attacked Steven and Connie while they were hanging out on the beach. That day, Steven had summoned a bright pink shield to save her, and with a perfect throw the monster had dissolved into a gemstone.

Connie knew immediately what it was. 

_ Magic.  _

And in all the magic books she’d read- _ Neville Longbottom  _ and  _ Blarnia- _ the unmagical ones were never best friends with the magical ones. They never did anything important. 

So Connie hadn’t expected to do anything important. But then the giant worm had shown up, and Steven hadn’t been there to help, so Connie had had to run. 

And then she got a idea, and ran, weaving through the docks and making the worm be all confused, until it was too tangled to catch her. 

When Steven had arrived, he told her she was  _ crazamazing.  _ “It’s crazy and amazing,” he had explained. “Because that was a really crazy plan, but it was kind of amazing too.”

Then he’d stabbed the worm with a stick and it dissolved. 

Connie didn’t understand how Steven could think she was  _ crazymazing _ , of all people. She was the sidekick in Steven’s story. 

But heck, if he thought she was  _ crazamazing,  _ then maybe she was. 

But when that giant hand appeared in the sky, Steven looked scared, and that scared Connie more than the bug monster or the worm monster. Because if Steven was scared, and Connie was scared, who could be  _ crazamazing  _ and save them?

Connie kind of doubted it was Steven’s dad. But Steven seemed to think so. 

Greg looked up at the hand, looked back down at Steven, and bit his lip. “Hang on. Rose left me a book or something on what to do with these types of things.”

He headed into the car wash-or more accurately, the part of it that Steven lived in. There was a little expansion, just enough for a small kitchen and futon. 

Steven looked over at Connie. “You okay? You can leave if you want.”

Connie shook her head. “I’m going to stay. I want to be able to help you.” She wanted to be like Ginny in  _ Neville Longbottom and the Snake in the Walls,  _ helping with the quest and saying snappy punchlines. 

Steven grinned at her. Connie smiled back. 

“Found it!” Greg said triumphantly. “Alright. What to do in case of glowing gem, list of potential abilities, things that aren’t actually that concerning...aha! In Case Someone Comes Looking For Him.” 

“Someone’s looking for me?” Steven cried. Connie’s eyes widened. Maybe Steven really was the chosen one, just like Neville!

Greg looked worried. “Uh, maybe. Hang on.” He scanned the page, then looked back up. “Your mom says ‘It’s unlikely that anyone will come after me, as I wasn’t very important or indeed, necessary at all where I came from.’”

Connie looked at the ground. Steven’s mom sounded like she needed someone to tell her she was  _ crazamazing.  _

Maybe Greg had been that person for her. 

“But on the off chance someone does,” Greg continued, “they will think Steven is me if they know he has my gem. Don’t let them know he has it. They won’t know who you are, either. Please, don’t let them take Steven, and if you see a Gem who looks like she’s a servant and has pink hair in a bob and an oval gemstone on her forehead-”

_ That’s specific,  _ Connie thought, and then,  _ a servant?  _

“Tell her I’m sorry,” Greg finished quietly. 

Steven blinked at Greg. “Dad?”

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“Was Mom…did she like it where she came from?”

“I don’t think she did, Steven,” Greg said. “I don’t think she did.”

There was a silence. 

Then, a loud thunk. 

The spaceship had landed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE PREQUEL HAS 1911 HITS  
> I'VE BEEN MEASURING THAT BY HOW FAR IN THE PAST WE ARE AND _THAT'S ENOUGH HITS THAT FIDDLER ON THE ROOF HAS HAPPENED_


	3. Pearl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stebs is very rational and hides.  
> April Fools.

Steven’s first thought was to run. 

Not away, but  _ towards. _

His dad was amazing. Maybe the best dad ever. (He didn’t know because he didn’t have any other ones.) And Connie was  _ definitely  _ the best friend ever. (Sorry Peedee!) And his dad had done a great job with him. Steven actually knew why he had a shiny rock in his stomach now, and he could do that bubble thing too. 

But he had never seen a full Gem before, or even another half-Gem. And he wanted more information on his mom-like, how did she summon her shield reliably? Why did she look the same in all the pictures? If her  _ name  _ was Rose Quartz, and she was  _ pink  _ like a Rose Quartz, were all Gems named after gemstones?

Why didn’t she like it where she came from? 

So Steven ran. The ship wasn’t too far away-he could see a little peek of it around the big cliff in front of the house. 

“STEVEN!” Dad called after him, but Steven kept running. 

_ I want to know, I want to know,  _ he thought with every thump of his feet on the sand. He wanted to know-he  _ needed  _ to know! If those Gems knew his mom, at all, he needed to know about her so he could do the magic things she could.

So he could protect Connie. And Dad. And...heck, why not aim big? All of Beach City could use protecting. 

He heard someone else running alongside him and turned his head to see Connie, running beside him. 

She smiled a little. 

_ Crazamazing,  _ Steven thought. What kind of friends would run towards an alien spaceship with you?

Good friends. 

Steven and Connie rounded the corner and pulled up short. A giant hand was sitting  _ right there,  _ and wow, it was  _ so huge,  _ were all Gems super huge?

A green ball emerged from the hand, and then slowly dissolved. 

Steven’s hand found Connie’s.

A tall pink person with a long swirly dress was standing there, with a little purple person, another pale pink person, a blue one, a really buff orange one, and a green robot. 

“Hgu, synagro. Lraep, let met ot og yawa,” she said, or something like that. 

Steven blinked at Connie. Greg had mentioned something about Mom being from space, but nothing about her being an actual  _ alien,  _ or speaking an alien language. 

The pale pink person leapt down gracefully and landed right in front of Steven and Connie. 

Connie squeaked, but stayed, which Steven appreciated. 

“C-could you...go please?” the person said, kneeling down to get down on their level.

“Steven!” Connie whispered. 

“What?”

“Look! Pink hair, forehead gem!  _ Oval _ , Steven!”

The person looked at them hopefully. “Does that mean yes?”

Steven’s eyes widened. “Uh, what’s your name?”

The person looked startled. “Er…” she glanced up at the pink gem on the hand, who was glaring at them. 

“Pearl,” she whispered. “It’s Pearl. Now please, leave.”

Steven nodded. “Okay.”

Connie looked over at him in confusion.

Greg was close behind them now. “Steven!” he called. 

Steven yanked up his shirt, exposing the pink gemstone set in his stomach. “Mom wanted you to know she’s sorry,” he said quietly. 

Then for the second time that day, Steven and Connie ran, this time away from the hand, leaving Pearl standing staring behind them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so to clarify:  
> I've always had the headcanon that the reason Steven can understand Gems who have never been to Earth is because he's bilingual-he was raised speaking Gem and English. He never officially learned Gem, but he just picked it up, as children do when raised in multilingual households.  
> In this AU, of course, he never actually was raised by Gems, and so he only speaks English. Pearl speaks English because she was on Earth for a while and remembers it. The other Gems will probably pick it up pretty quick if they run into humans, because Peridot _learned to sing after hearing one solfege scale clearly gems are really smart i mean they're basically computers with feelings_.


	4. Forgiveness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _can you imagine?_

“Pearl, come back here,” Morganite said. When Pearl did so, Morganite smiled at her. “Good job getting the humans to leave. Do it faster next time.”

Pearl dipped her head. “Yes, my Morganite.”

The human-were they a human?  _ Steven,  _ that’s what everyone had called them. Not Pink. Not Rose.  _ Steven. _

And that had been Pink’s gem. She would recognize it anywhere, even after so long. But why was it rotated?

And why was everyone calling her Steven?

The human with Pink’s gem...they had said “Mom wanted you to know she’s sorry.” Not “I’m sorry.”

“Mom wanted you to know.”

Pearl wasn’t sure what a Mom was. Maybe another of Rose’s disguises?

But the human had said “wanted.” Past tense.

The little Amethyst nudged Pearl. “Hey, Pearl. You okay?”

With a blink, Pearl realized that everyone else had gotten off the ship. With a blush, she followed. 

“To find Pink Diamond!” Morganite called. 

“To find Pink Diamond!” everyone echoed. 

“Pink Diamond,” Pearl echoed, quietly. 

Rose might have been disguised again, or maybe she really was-past tense. Going, going, gone. 

Whichever. Pearl didn’t care. She would keep her Diamond’s secrets.

_ Don’t worry, my Diamond,  _ Pearl said inside herself, as she followed Morganite across the beach.  _ I won’t tell them. I’ll spend thousands of years wandering this gemforsaken planet on a useless chase, if it means I can keep you safe.  _

_ Oh, and my Rose? _

_ I forgive you.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may notice there's a chapter amount now! That's because I outlined the rest of the story, and that's the tentative chapter amount! Subject to change.


	5. Questions

Once they had stopped running, they were at the car wash.

Steven’s first thought-and, because he was a teen boy, his first action-was to turn to Connie and blurt “If you want to stop being friends, we can!”

Connie blinked, taking a couple deep breaths. “What?”

Steven collected his thoughts and tried again. “I mean, if you want to stop being friends-because, like, there are Gems on Earth now-and I don’t really know what to do-and I-”

“ _ Steven.”  _ Connie put her hands on his shoulders and stared at him very solemnly. “I. Think. This. Is. The COOLEST THING EVER.” 

“R-Really?” Steven said. 

Connie nodded frantically. “It’s like, all these years you were a fairy in disguise or something, but your mom promised her first-born to someone, and now they’re here to collect you, and-”

She stopped and collected herself, seeing that Steven had begun to look panicky. “And I want to help you outsmart them. Or befriend them! Or do whatever you want. This is  _ your  _ fantasy story, and I want to help you write it.”

“And correct all my grammar errors?” Steven said with a shaky smile. 

“Of course.”

They hugged for a long second before Greg cleared his throat and said “This is great and all, but...Schtuball, what on Earth were you thinking, showing that Gem your gem? What  _ are  _ you thinking?”

Steven blinked. “I don’t know. She just...looked so sad, and I thought maybe telling her Mom was sorry-whatever that means-could make her less sad.”

Greg sighed, and rubbed his forehead. “ _ Rose,”  _ he whispered, and it occurred to Steven that that “What were you thinking?” could possibly have been directed at someone else. 

“What are you gonna do now?” Connie asked. 

Steven thought. “I think…I think I need to find Pearl again. I need to ask her some questions.” 

“Questions?” Connie echoed. “Like what?”

“No way,” Greg interrupted before Steven could answer. “I’m not letting you run off- _ again- _ to talk to some Gems who might want to kidnap you or do something else horrible.”

“How do you know they’re horrible?” Steven said. 

“I didn’t say-” Greg sighed. “Listen, Steven. I think I need to tell you a story.”

Steven’s eyes widened. “Okay!” 

Greg took out his guitar and patted the truck. Steven and Connie hopped up and prepared themselves. 


	6. Story For Steven

_I fly like a comet,_

_Soar like a comet,_

_Crash like a comet,_

_I’m just a comet..._

Greg finished his song and took several deep breaths before opening his eyes to-

Nothing.

The aspiring rock star pushed himself to his feet and looked out at the empty audience sadly. The folding chairs that had been so lovingly set up were completely empty.

Then there was a hesitant clap.

Greg jumped-a ghost?-and then looked over to see the most beautiful woman ever.

Seriously. Wow. She was really tall, and pink, and had a floofy dress and pink hair with some leaves in it. She looked like some kind of nature goddess.

“T-thanks for coming, everybody!” he said into the microphone, even though there was only one person there. “Uhh, there’s merchandise over there…”

The lovely woman started making her way towards the table, and Greg hastily jumped off the stage and ran over.

“Space Train to The Cosmos,” the woman said, reading off the CD.

“Y-yeah!” Greg said. “One way ticket and I’m ready to ri-ide~!”

“Are you sure you want to go to space?” the woman asked, suddenly looking very worried.

“Psh,” Greg said. “Once I get there amongst the stars, I’m never going back.”

“Oh no, but-” the woman looked down. “Space isn’t good for...you.”

Greg blinked. This conversation felt weird all of a sudden. “Uhm, you want that CD?’

“This what?”

“CD-”

There was a bang from the back of the van and Marty and a girl jumped out.

“Hi, Mar-”

“Star child! Meet Vidalia.”

“Hi Vida-”

The girl looked at Greg in a way that made him feel sad. He decided to just be quiet.

“How was your concert?” Marty asked.

“Great!” Greg said. “A person showed up! I was gonna give her this CD-”

He turned around. The lovely woman was gone.

“Greeeeeeg,” Marty said. “How am I supposed to make any money if you don’t _sell stuff?_ 75% of nothing’s nothing, Starchild! _I gotta impress this girl._ ”

“I know,” Greg said. “Listen, I’ll catch up with you guys.”

“Alright!” Marty said. As Greg left, he could hear Marty saying “So did I tell you I’m _famous?”_

Greg sighed and kicked a rock. It hurt his foot.

He glanced towards the forest. Come to think of it, the lady had had a leaf in her hair, he was pretty sure. Maybe she had actually come from the forest?

“Hello?” Greg said. He felt a little weird entering a forest and yelling “Hello,” but love cared nothing for weirdness.

There was a rustling noise and a yelp.

“Uhh...pink lady? You forgot your C...D…”

There was another rustle, this one softer.

“Hello,” a voice said right behind him, and Greg yelped.

The lady blinked at him. “Oh no, did I frighten you? I’m sorry, I’ll leave…”

“No, it’s fine!” Greg reassured her. “I just wanted to give you this.”

“Oh!” the woman said, taking the CD. “Thank you! What is it?”

“It’s...a CD,” Greg said. “Do you...not know what that is?”

The woman looked almost ashamed. “I’m sorry. I’m...not a normal person, you could say. Actually, I’m not a person at all.”  
“So you really are a nature goddess?”

The woman looked startled, and then she laughed. She laughed so hard she had to sit down. She laughed so hard she started crying.

“I’m the opposite of a nature goddess,” she said, wiping away tears that kept flowing. “I’m-well-oh, this sounds so funny. I swear I’m not a nature goddess.” She stood up. “But my name _is_ Rose.”

“Rose,” Greg repeated.

“Yes,” the woman said. For a minute, her face flickered with worry, but then it settled back to normalcy. “Rose.”

“I’m Greg,” Greg said, offering his hand. “Also known as Mr. Universe.”

“Oooh,” Rose said.

“Oh geez, what time is it?” Greg asked suddenly, looking up at a darkening sky.

“Nighttime?” Rose said.

“Right,” Greg said. “I gotta go, Marty’ll be waiting.”

“Okay!” Rose said, and waved as Greg left. She paused, and right as Greg walked out of the forest, he swore he heard her yell “Wait, how do you make this work?”

“Man, Greg, you missed out,” Marty said as they drove away from Beach City. “I had a wild time with Vidalia. That town isn’t a total waste.”

“No kidding,” Greg said. “I met this awesome woman there, too.”  
“Oh, here we go,” Marty said with an eyeroll. “How tall?”

“Like...eight feet,” Greg said dreamily. “Big poofy hair and a big poofy skirt. Oh, and she’s not a person, but she’s not a nature goddess either.”

“What?” Marty said, before shaking his head. “Nevermind. Anyway, Greg, why go for one big woman when you could have multiple smaller ones?”

“I’m not even going to start with that sentence,” Greg said with a frustrated sigh.

“You _need_ me, Starchild,” Marty said. “I’m gonna getcha what you want.”

“What if I wanna go back?” Greg said.

“What?”

“What if I want to go back, and talk to that lady some more? What then, Marty?”

Marty snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. No one cares about your feelings! Money is what’s impor-”  
“WATCHTHEROAD!” Greg yelled, reaching across the seat and grabbing the steering wheel, swerving the van out of the way of an upcoming truck.

Marty hastily applied the brakes and the two sat back and breathed for a second before Greg remembered what they were talking about.

“Why is it always you who decides what’s important?” Greg asked.

“Because I’m the manager. You’re some starry-eyed kid and you’re _nothing_ without me,” Marty said bluntly.

Greg felt a flush of anger rising in him. “Get out of my van.”

“What are you-”

“ _Get_ _out of my VAN!”_

Greg flung the door open and shoved Marty. Hard. Marty fell out, stumbled, and tried to get back inside, but Greg slammed the door. He was done with this.

“You’re making a mistake!” Marty yelled, but Greg was already driving away.

“Rose?” he called, stumbling through the forest. “Hello?”

There was a small rustle, and Rose emerged. Apparently, she hadn’t left the forest.

“Oh,” she said softly.

“I came back,” Greg said.

“You did.”

There was a pause.

“Please leave,” Rose said softly.

“What?’

“You’re really nice, and I like your songs, and I want to stay here with you, but-I can’t. I’ll just hurt you again.”

“Again?”

“I-please. Don’t let me hurt you. Go. Go do what you want.”

“That’s a problem,” Greg said.

“Oh?”

“You’re what I want!” Greg said, dramatically looking up.

Rose blinked. Then she laughed. A real laugh, with no tears involved.

“Okay, Mr. Universe. I’ll stay with you.”

 

Steven blinked. “Woow.”

“So you...lived in a forest?” Connie said.   
“Oh no, I got a job at the car wash, and lived in the van. Rose though...actually, I think she said she didn’t need to eat. So. That wasn’t a problem.”

“She didn’t need to eat?” Steven said.

“Well, she was a space alien,” Connie pointed out.

“And she sounds like she had a tragic backstory,” Steven said. “Oh. That’s...sad, actually.”

“Connie, I think you should head home,” Greg said.

“Come over tomorrow?” Steven said.

“Mmmaybe,” Connie said. “See you soon?”

“Always.”


	7. Explanations

Connie steeled herself and pushed open the door. 

“Connie!” her parents exclaimed in sync. 

“Where were you?” her mother demanded. “We saw that hand in the sky and we thought something might have happened to you!”

Connie shook her head. “I’m fine. I need to-to tell you something.”

“Well, what is it?” her mother said, glaring slightly in her direction. 

Connie took a deep breath and let it out. “You know Steven?”

Her parents nodded. 

“You know how I told you he was magic when I was little?” 

Her parents exchanged a worried look and nodded again. 

“Well, uh...I wasn’t lying.” 

Her mother raised an eyebrow. 

Connie put her hands up. “I can explain! Okay, so you know those creatures with the gemstones that attack people sometimes?”

Her father nodded, and it occurred to Connie that this might not have been the best thing to start off with. 

“Okay, so Steven’s mom had magic powers that she used to fight off those creatures, and when she died, Steven got her magic powers. He’s used them before! He protected me from a centipede monster and stabbed a giant worm and put us in a bubble once-”

“You were attacked by one of those monsters?” her mother said, standing up from the couch.

“Yes, but-”

“And Steven was there?”

“He was-”

“What kind of powers does Steven have?” her dad interrupted. 

“Doug!” Connie’s mom hissed. 

“Uh, well, he summoned a shield once, he can do a pink bubble that’s basically invulnerable, he floated once...um...I think that’s it…”

“Fascinating,” her dad said. 

“Doug!” Connie’s mom repeated. 

“Sorry.”

Connie’s mom sighed and turned back to her. “And you say these monsters only attacked you when Steven was around?”

“No!” Connie said, frustrated. “That’s not what I was saying at all!” 

“Really,” her mom said. 

“No!” Connie repeated. “I-listen, one time a giant worm attacked me, and I ran around under the docks until it got all tangled up, and then Steven stabbed it with a stick! So I did fine without him! But when he was around, he protected me with his shield! So it’s the opposite of what you’re thinking!”

“I see,” her mom said. Then something occurred to her. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with the hand, would it?”

Connie looked down at the floor and nodded. 

“ _ Connie.” _

“Okay, so Steven’s mom-she’s a alien, and the monsters, I think, I think they’re aliens too, and where Steven’s mom came from, there were other aliens, and now they came to Earth, and-”

“Stop.”

Connie stopped. 

“Are they going to try and find Steven?”

“We don’t know.”

“Are they going to try to hurt Steven?”

“I don’t think so. One of them was Steven’s mom’s friend, it seems like.”

“Do they also have magical powers?”  
“We don’t know.”

Connie’s mom sighed and sat down on the couch. “How long have you known about this?”

“About five hours.”

“Not the hand. Steven being a magical alien.”

“Half-alien.”

“Half-alien.”

“Two years.”

“ _ Two years- _ and you’re telling us this now why?”

“Because I don’t think I could have hidden it for much longer.”

Connie looked at her parents.

Her mom and dad looked at Connie. 

Her mother sighed. “Will you be safe, if you keep hanging out with Steven? Or do you not know that?”

“Hanging out with Steven is the only way I will be safe,” Connie said, with absolute certainty. 

Her mother looked at her. “Are you really only nine?”

Connie nodded. 

Her mother smiled, and then frowned, and then settled for looking at her in a wistful way.

Connie wondered if this meant she was going to have to start preparing for college. 


	8. Arguments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the other side of town, another child has another discussion with another parent about the same sparkly rock.

Connie was happy, but Steven wasn’t. 

It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy for her-he was. He needed  _ someone  _ else who was as clueless as he was right now, and Connie was his best friend. He was glad they didn’t have to keep secrets from her parents anymore. 

It was just that he was having a lot of trouble concentrating on being happy when he couldn’t stop worrying about the Gems. 

It had been two days since the hand ship had landed, and aside from sitting ominously on the beach, nothing more had happened. The Gems had apparently gone off in a different direction, away from Beach City. 

And Greg was being really insistent on Steven not following them. 

Steven was not fond of this development. He was a big boy now! He could summon a bubble practically every time! And he could hop really high! He was totally able of defending against some aliens! 

Also, he was really worried about Pearl. She looked so sad! And that pink gem was really bossy. He thought. It was hard to tell. 

“Come on, Dad, please?” Steven said. It was the fifth time that day. 

“Steven, no,” Greg replied automatically.

Steven sighed. He didn’t want to have to do this, but desperate times called for desperate measures. 

“Don’t you want me to learn more about Mom?”

“I can tell another story-”

“No!” Steven cried. He felt bad immediately. “Sorry. I love your stories, but I want to learn about Mom from someone else. Someone who maybe knew…”

He paused. 

“How I can...be more like her? In some ways?”

“Steven, you don’t need to be like your mom,” Greg said gently. 

“I know, but I mean like how she could protect people. I want to protect people! And you’re a super great dad, but you don’t know anything about...Gem stuff. Sorry again.”

Greg sighed. “It’s okay, Steven. I know I don’t know that kind of stuff.” 

“So I can go investigate the ship?” Steven said brightly. 

Greg held up a finger. “On one condition.”

“Yeah?”

“Tell me everything that happens.”

“Yes, sir!”

Greg laughed and ruffled his son’s hair. “Alrighty then. Go, buddy. Do your thing.” 

Steven beamed and ran to find Connie. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, some news this week!  
> I am going on a trip! To Utah! I plan to read the Brick. It is a mighty undertaking. My goal is to get to the part where our main character actually shows up. Wish me luck.  
> Sadly, this trip also means I will not be available to publish the next chapter of either Homeworld Magazine or The Return. Rest assured that when I return, I will have both in store, as well as the first chapter of that Lapamedot story, which I'm thinking of titling "Way You Make Me Feel". Thoughts?


	9. Garnet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie return to the hand ship to find Pearl. Instead, they find someone else.

Connie had packed her bag and was ready to roll. She had a first-aid kit, some protein bars, a pencil and paper, a flashlight, sunscreen, some DANGER tape, and a tennis racket (in case of...a tennis emergency?). 

“Hi Connie!” Steven said. “Wow, you’re prepared!”  
Connie nodded. “I’m ready to head back there and see what’s what.”

“Alrighty!” Steven said. 

The two set off across the sand-Steven almost skipping, Connie doing her best to look very serious. 

They arrived at the hand ship to find it sitting quietly and innocently on the ground. Thankfully, in the three days since it had landed, no one had disturbed it further than Ronaldo, who had filmed it from about five different angles. 

“Shall we?” Steven said, offering Connie his hand. 

Connie took it. 

Steven hopped up on the fingers that lay extended on the ground, pulling Connie along. “Okay, we gotta look for a way in.” 

Connie hummed and started knocking rhythmically on the ground, searching for a hollow sounding area. 

Steven wandered over the giant green palm. “This could take a while, but no worries! I’m sure we’ll find something eventuaaaaaaaaaa!”

This last was not planned, but spontaneous, as Steven had taken a sudden fall into an even more sudden hole. 

“Steven!” Connie yelped, and removing her first-aid kit, followed him into the hole. 

They both landed in a seemingly empty, dark green hallway. The only source of light was the hole they’d come through, which softly closed, leaving them in almost complete darkness. 

“Spooky,” Steven whispered. 

Connie switched on her flashlight and swept it around. The hall was seemingly empty. Random niches were cut into the wall, and there was a panel next to each one. 

“Hellooooo?” Steven called. Aside from an echo, no one responded. 

“It’s us! The humans from before! We just want to talk!” Steven called as the two made their way down the hall. It continued being empty. 

Connie swung her flashlight beam up and over the ceiling. There seemed to be mechanical veins tracing along it. 

_ Creepy,  _ she thought with a shudder. 

There was a slight rattle from down the hall, and the two both jumped backwards. 

“H-hello?” Steven said. “It’s us! The non threatening humans! Pearl? Is that you? It’s Steven! Your new friend!” 

There was the sound of footsteps, and then someone peeked around the wall. 

Connie yelped and almost dropped the flashlight. On instinct, Steven summoned his bubble.

“ _ Steven!”  _ Connie hissed. 

“I know, I know!” Steven said. “Maybe it’s an alien thing?”

“Hello?” the three-eyed person said, coming into the now pink-tinted light of Connie’s flashlight. 

“Uhhh, hi!” Steven said. “I’m Steven. This is Connie! We are humans! Are you a Gem?”

“I’m..a Gem,” the Gem said, touching her hands together briefly. “Humans?” 

“We live here,” Steven said. “On Earth.” 

“Earth!” the Gem said. “You live on Earth! Humans on Earth!”

“Yyyyyup,” Steven said. 

“I didn’t see you on the ship with the others,” Connie said, finally working up the courage to speak to this Gem. “Are you...do you know a Gem named Pearl?”

“A Gem named Pearl?” the Gem said. “I know a Pearl. Uh, I-I didn’t see Pearl. But I know a Pearl.”

Steven and Connie looked at each other. 

Steven took a deep breath. “Uh, I need to tell you something. Or. Show you something.”

Connie bit her lip. “Are you sure-”

Steven showed the Gem his Gem. 

She gasped and leaned back. “You...are you a Gem?”

Steven shook his head. “Not exactly. I’m like...if you stuck a Gem into a human but the human was a baby-like a tiny human-and the Gem just gave the human powers and nothing else.”

“I’m like that,” the Gem said. 

“You’re a human?” Steven said, wide-eyed. 

The Gem chuckled. “No, no! I-I’ll show you.”

She glowed, and the two humans stared in mixed awe and confusion as she became two smaller Gems, a blue one and a red one. 

“I’m Sapphire,” the blue one said. 

“I’m Ruby!” the red one said. "The Gem you just talked to was Garnet." 

“We need to get off the ship,” Sapphire said. “We need to talk.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried my hardest to make Garnet's speech make sense-she only repeats words she's heard Connie and Steven say. The only times this rule was broken were the last few lines Ruby and Sapphire have, and at that point they've heard over a hundred human words, so I think it makes sense that they were able to improvise a little.


	10. The Warp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter amount has changed again! It's probably gonna be in flux for a while.

Ruby and Sapphire stayed separated for the beginnings of the walk back to Greg’s house. As they walked, Sapphire explained what had happened to Garnet. She was a good explainer. She said everything slowly enough for you to understand, and liked questions. 

“So Garnet is us, and we are Garnet, but she is also her own Gem and we are our own Gems,” Sapphire concluded. “Does that make sense?”

“Kinda!” Steven said. “Mostly. And you..share memories?”  
Sapphire nodded. “Which is why we knew you...Steven.”

Steven bounced up and down a little. This was all so exciting! “What did Garnet mean when she said I was like her?”

“A fusion,” Sapphire said. “You are your mother and your father combined, but while you exist your mother and father cannot.”

“Actually, my dad’s fine. It’s uh...it’s just Mom who...can’t exist.”

Sapphire nodded. “I understand.”

“And also, I’m pretty sure I don’t have any memories from her. Or Dad. I mean, I don’t know like, anything about her? Haha. So. Yeah.”

Sapphire put her hand-the one that wasn’t holding Ruby’s-on Steven’s shoulder. It was strangely cold, but not unpleasant. “Certainly an unusual fusion. But all fusions are. And we will look out for you, Steven. Ruby, I, and Garnet.”

Steven beamed. “Thanks, Sapphire.”

“Sapphy, look!” Ruby broke in. She made a series of strange noises that sounded kind of like “praw dap” and sounded excited.   
Sapphire turned her face towards a small cave that seemed to be in the cliff. “So it is!”

“A what?” Steven said. 

Ruby said something again, but Steven didn’t get it. 

“It transports Gems,” Sapphire said. “Warps them through space.”

“So it’s a...warp...rock?” Connie said. 

Sapphire and Ruby looked at each other. 

“More like...warp pad?” Ruby said. “Here, we’ll show you.”

The two went towards the cave, and Steven and Connie followed. 

Ruby and Sapphire hopped on the pad, and Steven and Connie hesitantly clambered on after them. 

“How does it work?” Connie said, stomping experimentally on the pad. 

“Like this!” Ruby said, and then they were floating in a white sparkly void. 

“Ahahaha!” Steven chuckled, tucking himself into a ball and doing a somersault. 

“Ruby, where did you send us?” Sapphire said, staying perfectly calm despite her hair floating like they were underwater. 

Ruby shrugged. 

Sapphire sighed, and then they were somewhere. 


	11. Pink Dangerball

They arrived in a large, sandy expanse, with  _ something _ hovering on the horizon. Sapphire immediately brushed the hair back over her face and climbed off the warp pad, lifting her skirt delicately as if she was a lady from some century where the ladies had big skirts that were hard to walk with.

The rich ones had big skirts, anyway. 

Ruby hopped off the warp pad and helped Steven and Connie get up. The two humans had been startled by the sudden reappearance of gravity, and had fallen. 

“That. Was.  _ Amazing!”  _ Connie gasped, brushing sand off of her skirt. “Where are we?”

“A desert,” Ruby said. 

“Hmm,” Sapphire said. “This is odd.”

“Yeah,” Steven said, squinting at the horizon. “Is that a...giant sand castle?”  
Sapphire, Ruby, and Connie all looked towards the swirly object of Steven’s attention. 

“It would appear so,” Sapphire said. 

“Cooool!” said Ruby. “Let’s go!” 

She ran off towards the sand castle. Connie and Steven followed shortly, and with a small smile Sapphire followed. 

“Uggggh…” Steven said shortly, flopping down in the sand. 

“Steven, you’re fine,” Connie said. “We’ve been walking for like two minutes.”

“I’m dyyyyying,” Steven said. 

“You’re getting sand in your mouth.”

Steven rolled over. “Mrrrrrrm.”

Ruby and Sapphire, seemingly oblivious to the failings of the human body, were continuing on towards the sand castle, holding hands. 

“Steven, come on-” Connie said, trying to pull Steven to his feet. “AAAH OHMIGOSH!” 

Connie froze and dropped Steven’s hand. Steven sat up. 

“What? What is it-AAH! OH MY GOOSH!”

Connie slowly backed away from the giant and seemingly bright pink lion that had appeared in front of them. 

“You are just the cutest pink fluffball I’ve ever seeen!” Steven cried, hugging a giant pink leg. 

“That is a very  _ dangerous  _ fluffball,” Connie said. “Steven, back away slowly.”

“Whoooo’s a dangerball? Yoooou are! Yesss, you arrrre!”

There was a distant scream, and Connie whirled around to see that Ruby and Sapphire had seemingly disappeared. 

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” she muttered, dropping to a crouch and wrapping her arms around herself. “Oh my gooosh.”

“Connie?” Steven said. 

“Rrr?” the lion said, looking towards the slightly-less-distant sand castle. 

“Are you okay?” Steven said. 

“No!” Connie cried. “We are in a  _ desert  _ with a  _ lion  _ and the only two people who know what’s happening have disappeared!”

There was a rumble and a wall appeared nearby.

“Connie, it’s going to be okay!”

“It’s not!” the girl cried, clutching her head. “It’s not okay! I don’t know how you can say that!”

Another wall appeared, and a tower slowly reached up in the background. 

The lion nosed Steven. 

Connie whimpered. 

Steven looked between the lion, the walls that now encircled them on three sides, and Connie, and then knelt down in the sand. 

“Connie, I know you’re really scared right now, and I know the lion isn’t helping. But I think he might actually be the solution to one of those problems you were mentioning.”

Connie didn’t respond, which Steven took as a cue to keep talking.

The lion roared at a nearby tower. It shuddered but kept stubbornly building. 

“Remember how you said that Ruby and Sapphire were the only ones who knew what was going on? Well...I think the pink dangerball here might know what’s going on, actually!”

Connie looked up. “R-Really?”

“It’s our best shot,” Steven said. He held out his hand. 

Connie hesitated and then accepted it. 

The lion knelt down, and Steven and Connie got on. 

“Where is he going?” Connie yelled as the lion began to run.   
“Trust the dangerball!” Steven replied. 

The lion roared, and Steven and Connie were flying. 

It felt like the warp, but windier and horizontal. 

Also, scarier. 

Thankfully it ended quickly. 

They were atop the sand castle. It was less chaotic up here, but peeking over the edge, Steven saw a constantly-changing landscape of sand. 

“Steven? What’s this?” Connie said. Steven left the precipice and went to join her. 

A small cushion with a gemstone embedded in it sat on a pedestal of sand. 

Steven thought. “I don’t know. It looks like a Gem..”

“Maybe it’s a Gem monster?” Connie said. 

The lion sniffed it and growled. 

Steven picked up the cushion. “Doesn’t seem like a-”

The castle rumbled, and began to crumble beneath their feet.

“AAAH!” both kids yelped. 

The lion grabbed Connie’s shirt gently, Connie grabbed Steven’s hand, and they leapt. 

In what seemed like a second, Connie was on the ground, Steven beside her, still clutching the pillow, and the castle was falling. 

A shape emerged from the dust. Steven and Connie automatically flinched, but it revealed itself to be Garnet. 

“Are you two alright?” she asked. 

Steven and Connie nodded mutely. 

Garnet reached for the pillow. “What is this?”

“We think it’s a Gem monster,” Connie said. 

“A Gem…. _ monster?”  _ Garnet said. 

“We can explain,” Steven said. “But if you know any way to keep it from like...coming back..”

Garnet looked at both of them, nodded, and enveloped the pillow in a maroon bubble. 

“Neat,” Steven said. 

“What’s that lion doing?” Garnet said. 


	12. Things Told and Things Left Unsaid

Greg was coping with everything very well, actually. 

His son had returned in one piece and within two hours, so that was nice. And at Connie’s suggestion, they broke...everything else to him slowly. 

First of all, they explained about Garnet. They left the “fusion” thing for another time. He dealt with that pretty well. There was only a very little amount of screaming when he saw the third eye. And he seemed more than a little relieved about there being an actual Gem to explain things to Steven now. 

The lion went over a little less well. It took Steven a while to convince Greg to let him keep it. The lion (Dangerball?) was helping by licking itself, hence proving it’s cat-ness. 

Actually, Steven was seemingly still convincing Greg about Lion (Dangerball), so it had been left to Connie to explain to Garnet about Gem monsters. 

“They’re kind of like...big...monster-creature-things,” Connie said. “One looked like a centipede, but like, giant, and one looked like a worm but giant and with tentacles, and one looked like a giant mole, and I guess they can also be pillows now so there’s that. 

Garnet nodded. “But...how did they get like that?”

Connie shrugged. “They’ve been this way ever since...ever.”

Garnet rubbed her eyes. “What did the Diamonds do…”

“The Diamonds?” Connie said, intrigued. 

Garnet sighed. “It’s too much to explain right now.” 

Connie mentally filed this under “things adults still have to explain to me” and carried on. “Anyway, after you...beat one, I guess, it goes poof and there’s just a gemstone.

“And what do you do with it?”

“Nothing,” Connie said. 

Garnet gasped. “But then it can come back!”

“Oh no!” Connie cried. 

“Clearly I have to teach Steven to bubble,” Garnet muttered. “How did you ever win against something that I assume has the power of a Gem, anyway? Has Steven had formal combat training? He does have the powers of a-erm.” 

Connie shook her head, wide-eyed. “I don’t think he’s had any combat training. He summoned a shield once, and threw it, which poofed the centipede, and also made a giant bubble around himself twice. And the other one was poofed by..uh, me, kind of.”

Garnet’s eyes widened. “That is incredibly impressive!”

“Thanks,” Connie said with a small smile. 

The fusion sat up straight. “Well, I’m no Agate, but I would be honored to train a Di-” she frowned intensely, looked back at Connie, and smiled. “Erm-two clearly talented humans.”

“Thank you!” Connie said. 

Steven came out of the door. “We’re keeping Dangerball!”

“Wow!” Connie said. “How did you convince your dad?”

Steven made his eyes go all sparkly. 

“Of course.” 

Garnet stood up. “I’m sorry, Steven, but we have something else to tell your father.”

Steven made a “oooh” face and sat down next to Connie. Garnet went inside. 

In precisely twenty seconds, a loud cry of “You want to teach them WHAT?” was heard from inside. 


	13. Training

“Okay, Steven,” Garnet said. It was two days later, and Connie was sitting on the lighthouse steps watching Steven and Garnet prepare to fight on top of the grassy hill. “Remember, if you can’t summon your shield that’s okay.”

“What if I hurt you?” Steven said. 

“You won’t,” Garnet said. When this didn’t seem to comfort Steven, she added “And if you do, I’ll just turn into my gems like the Gem monsters and come back soon, I promise.”

“O-Okay,” Steven said nervously. 

The two readied themselves, and then Garnet attacked. 

Her fist (weaponless) hit a large pink bubble, which immediately began rolling backwards down the hill. 

“Steven!” Connie yelled, running after him. 

“We have a lot of work to do,” Garnet said.

It did indeed take some work, and some cool motivating music, but eventually Steven figured out how to stop immediately summoning his bubble, and also how to jump and then land on Garnet’s head when she tried to punch him, which probably counted as an attack.  

“You’re doing great, Steven!” Connie said. 

“Am I?” Steven said. 

Garnet made a “hmm” noise. “Connie, would you like to be trained as well?”  
“Me?” Connie said, startled. “But I-I mean-um-”

“I bet you’d be great!” Steven said. 

“I don’t have a weapon,” Connie said. 

Steven frowned. “Oh yeah.”

“I can teach you about punching,” Garnet offered. 

Connie smiled and shook her head. “Thanks, but no thanks.” 

Garnet shrugged. “Alrighty.”

She went back to helping Steven, which Steven did not seem particularly pleased about. 

In about half an hour, Garnet declared that training was over and the three (four?) walked back down the hill. 

“Why do we need to do this again?” Steven said. 

“So you can defend yourself,” Garnet said. “I think it will be quite helpful.”

Connie tugged on her hair.  _ I want to defend myself, too,  _ she almost said. 

“Dangerball!” Steven cried. The lion was sitting at the bottom of the hill as if it had been waiting for them. 

Steven started running, presumably to hug the lion, but stopped short. “WHOA!”

“What is i-AH!” Connie cried. 

The lion’s eyes were  _ glowing _ . 

“Uhhhh,” Steven and Connie said in unison, backing away slowly. 

The lion’s head began to glow. 

“Wow, Earth is fascinating!” Garnet said. 

Steven hesitantly stepped forward and reached for the lion’s head. 

Screaming, etc. Basically, at the end of it, Steven was holding a large pink sword. 

“Is this...mine?” Steven said hesitantly. “Or..Mom’s?”

The lion bumped it’s nose into Steven so hard he dropped the sword. Connie caught it. 

“Is this...for me?” Connie said.

The lion licked its paw. 

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Steven said. “You get a sword and I get a shield! It’s perfect!”  
“It is?” Connie said. She tested the weight of it in her hand. It did feel nice. 

Garnet blinked all three of her eyes. “My goodness. That is an honor, Connie.”  
The weight of the sword felt heavier suddenly. 

“This means Connie can start training too, right?” Steven said. 

“Well…” Garnet hesitated. “I suppose it is your sword, and you can choose who you bestow it on..”

“Is that a yes?” Steven said, looking at her hopefully. 

Garnet sighed. “Yes.”

“Yes!” Steven cheered. 

Connie carefully handed the sword back. “You can keep it.”

Steven’s face fell. 

“For now,” Connie added, allowing a smile to creep onto her face, “but I’ll need it back tomorrow.”  
Steven blinked. 

“For training,” Connie said. 

Steven beamed. 

Connie smiled back. 


	14. Neat

Steven woke up because he couldn’t remember whether Gems slept. 

He carefully climbed off the futon he and his dad shared and padded through the room and out the door. 

Garnet was perched on the van, watching the stars. 

Steven steeled himself and leapt on top of the van as well. 

“Hello,” Garnet said, unruffled. 

“Hi!” Steven said, arranging himself on the van. He looked at the stars, then at Garnet, and then back at the sky, and then at Garnet again. 

“Is there something you want to talk to me about?” Garnet said gently. 

Steven wiggled a little. “Um, yeah. It’s uh...it’s Pearl.” 

Garnet sighed. “Yes. The pearl.”

Steven frowned. “ _The_ pearl?” he repeated. “What does that mean? Isn’t that her name?”  
Garnet looked away from Steven. “Steven. There are a few things you need to know.”

“Okay,” Steven said. 

“Your mother came from a planet-her Home World. On Homeworld, there are...many, many gems. Rubies, Sapphires...there’s many of them. There are also many...Pearls.”

“Do they all look the same?” Steven asked. “How do you tell them apart?”

“Where the gem is,” Garnet explained. “But it’s not a place that cares very much about being different.”

“Oh,” Steven said. 

Garnet wrapped her arms around herself. “Every gem type has a role. Rubies are bodyguards. Sapphires are...well, I’ll explain that later. They’re important. And Pearls are…”

She hesitated.

“Yeah?” Steven said, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“Pearls are servants.”

“Oh,” Steven said. “How much are they paid?”

“What?”  
Steven blinked. “But that’s awful!” he cried. “You can’t have someone be your servant without paying them!”

“What’s paying?”

“You mean no one gets any kind of reward for doing their job?” Steven said. He felt like he might start crying. 

“They get the reward of ser-” Garnet shook her head firmly. “They don’t get a reward.”  
“But that’s _awful!”_ Steven said again, more angry this time. “Why doesn’t anyone do anything? Like a-a union or something! I dunno!”

“Someone did,” Garnet said. “Your mother.”

Steven felt a smile tugging at his lips. His mom had hated Homeworld too! 

“What was her job?” he asked. 

Garnet sighed. “Your mother was a Diamond.”

“What do those do?” Steven asked. 

“They run everything else,” Garnet said. “There are four-or there were. Your mother was Pink Diamond.”

“No,” Steven said, confused. “She was Rose.”

“That was...her other name,” Garnet said. “No one would follow a Diamond-well, they would, but Pink Diamond...I suppose she felt she could get more followers if she looked like one of them. So she pretended to be a Rose Quartz. That Pearl-the one you know? That was her Pearl.”

“Mom...had a Pearl?”

Garnet smiled. “Yes. And that Pearl-oh, Steven. That Pearl could  _ fight.” _

“Neat,” Steven said. 

“No, you don’t understand!” Garnet cried. “Pearl-wait, wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. The rebellion failed. That’s why Pearl is doing what she’s being told to. But, but, she was a rebel! She was! And-and an amazing sword fighter.” She shuddered slightly. 

“So if we can get her away from that other Gem-” Steven said, understanding.

“Then she gets to be free, and we get an original Crystal Gem on our side!” Garnet said. 

“And Connie gets a trainer-wait, Crystal Gem?” Steven said. 

“That’s what they called themselves,” Garnet said. “The rebels.”  
“Neat,” Steven said. 

“Yes, Steven,” Garnet said. “It was-it  _ is- _ very, very neat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating yesterday. Life got ahead of me.


	15. Together Birthday

Before they could gather the Crystal Gems, or start a rebellion (in spaaaaace), or establish a republic (in spaaaaaace), it was Steven’s twelfth birthday. 

He invited Connie, of course, and Peedee, and Jeff, and Garnet. There were star-shaped balloons, and there was ice cream cake shaped like Cookie Cat (RIP), and Steven played ukulele (to everyone’s delight).  

Garnet was politely confused as to what was going on, which led to her explaining how Gems were technically quasi-immortal, which led to several questions from Connie and a mild existential crisis from Steven. 

Thankfully, before it could go too far, the music changed, and everyone got up to dance. 

Garnet stayed to the sidelines, looking with wonder on the strangest Diamond ball she had ever seen, and marveling at Earth’s odd customs.

Peedee muttered something about how he thought they were done with school dances. 

Greg watched his son with immense pride-and, he had to admit, a fair amount of nervousness too, mostly for the potential in Steven’s future. 

“Come on, Connie, dance with me!” Steven said. 

Connie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Steven..”

“Come ooon!” 

Connie weighed the risks mentally. Everyone here was definitely a friend or at least friendly, so she supposed there wasn’t  _ too _ much risk of potential embarrassment and subsequent doom...

“Alright,” she said, taking Steven’s proffered hand. 

Steven pulled Connie up and spun her around. The two joined Jeff in the well-known dance “The Kid”, which involves a lot of hopping up and down in place. Even Peedee consented to tapping along. 

Steven grabbed Connie’s hands and started tugging her in a circle, which is actually the second part of “The Kid.”

The two twirled around and around. Connie, forgetting the potential subsequent doom, laughed. Steven laughed as well. Everything seemed to be glowing…

Someone opened their eyes.

Confused. Together. What was this?

They realized they were sitting. This felt...wrong. 

The person pulled themself to their feet. They were standing on a beach. They defintely remembered thi-

Wait. Wait wait wait.

“Steven?” the person said, looking around. “Connie?”

They looked back at Peedee and Jeff. Their friends. 

“Hello,” the person said with a small wave. “Have you seen...Stev-” they paused. “-onnie?”  
They couldn’t remember which one it was they were looking for. Maybe both...but they felt like they were both right _there._

“Stevonnie?” Jeff said. “Is that you?”

“M-Maybe?” the person said. “I feel like Steven...and like Connie…”

There was a gasp, and Garnet came forward and grabbed Stevonnie’s hands. 

“You’re a  _ fusion _ ,” she said in a whisper.

“I am?” Stevonnie said. Their hands drifted to their gemstone, and then back up to their curly hair. “I  _ am!” _

They giggled, then laughed out loud, twirling around, hands to the sky. “I did it!”

There was a moment of silence-joyous from Stevonnie, proud from Garnet, confused from everyone else. 

Then Stevonnie looked around at the other faces. “Are you-what’s wrong?”

“I’m so confused,” Jeff whispered. 

“Where is my son?” Greg said. 

“I’m right here!” Stevonnie cried. 

Greg’s eyes went to the gem in Stevonnie’s stomach. “Steven?”

“No!” Stevonnie cried. “I mean yes! I mean…”

They clutched their head and stumbled backwards. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean-I-”

They tripped over a rock and fell backwards onto the sand with a puff. 

“Stevonnie?” Garnet said, stepping forward. But it was Steven and Connie lying in the sand. 

“I’m sorry!” Steven cried, sitting up abruptly. 

“It’s okay!” Connie said at the same time. 

Garnet pulled both the children to their feet. Connie cringed at the wide-eyed stares from the party guests. 

Garnet sighed. “I have some explaining to do.”


	16. Pearl Resuce

It had just now occured to Connie that she was having a really weird summer. 

For example, this morning, instead of sleeping in, she had leapt awake and gone to meet Steven and his alien fusion friend so they could rescue his mom’s friend from an oppressive alien caste system. 

This was definitely a weird summer. 

Garnet cleared her throat as the three walked across the sand. “So, I’ve looked into the possibilities, and I think the Gems are most likely at the Strawberry Battlefield.”

“The what?” Steven said. 

“What do you mean, looked into the possibilities?” Connie said. 

Garnet ran a hand through her fluffy hair. “Um, I mean that...well, I can see possibilities. And the strongest possibility is that they went to a battlefield where your mother, Steven, fought.”

“Future vision,” Steven whispered, starry-eyed. 

Garnet grinned sheepishly. “Yeah. So...should we...go?”  
Steven and Connie were way ahead of her, already positioned on the warp pad. 

“I hope this works…” Garnet muttered, and shot them into warp space. 

* * *

 

They came down in a large field-indeed, large seemed to be the operative word here. Huge weapons lay abandoned amongst strawberries almost as large as Steven. 

“Alright, here we are,” Garnet said. “Now stay close…”  
Steven charged ahead, looking around with wonder. “This is so cool!”  
Connie touched a giant sword. “Wow…”

They heard talking in the distance, and the children fell silent. Garnet beckoned to them, and they crouched behind a strawberry. 

Garnet named the Gems in a whisper as they walked across the Crystal Gem’s line of vision. “Morganite. Pearl. Jasper. I think that’s a Peridot? Amethyst. Lapis Lazuli.” 

Connie clutched at the handle of her sword. 

“When do we get Pearl?” Steven said in a whisper.

“Wait for it,” Garnet said. She hesitated. “Hold on, you’re going to-”

“8XM, what are you doing?” Morganite barked at the Amethyst. “Stop talking to that Peridot and come on!”

“They don’t even have names,” Steven whispered to himself and then he was up and running across the field. 

Connie followed him after a moment of hesitation.

Garnet buried her head in her hands before standing up.

“What in the galaxy?” Morganite cried. 

Pearl whispered, “Stop.”

Steven charged ahead, grabbed Pearl’s hand, and dragged her away from the Gems. “Pearl, I’m saving you!”

“Me too!” Connie said, pointing her sword wildly at the Gems. 

“In the name of Rose Quartz!” Garnet cried, summoning pink and blue gauntlets out of nowhere and dropping into a battle stance. 

Pearl, overwhelmed, could only mutter “That’s not how you hold a sword.”

“Cool! Can I touch?” Amethyst said, poking the sword. 

Morganite screamed in anger and summoned a long, swirling ribbon from her gem. She lashed it at Steven, who yelped and tugged Pearl out of the way. 

The other Gems recovered from their shock and joined the battle-well, sort of. Lapis flew into the air and hovered anxiously, Peridot readied her plasma blaster in case she needed to, and Jasper charged at Garnet. 

Connie struggled to pull her sword away from Amethyst, who had gotten a firm grip on it. 

“What. Are. You. Doing. With. Pearl?” Amethyst yelled, tugging ferociously. 

“We’re saving her!” Connie cried. 

“From what?”

“From this!”

“What’s this?”

“Everything! Morganite, and having to do what Gems tell her, and-” Amethyst’s grip weakened, and Connie managed to pull the sword away. She took a deep breath and held out her hand to the purple Gem. “Do you want to come with us?”

Amethyst hesitated, and maybe she would have said yes, but just then Steven screamed. 

Connie and Amethyst both looked over to see Garnet fall to the ground. Morganite’s ribbon whip had sliced right through her-and yet, oddly, there was no blood. 

Connie’s hand moved to her mouth. Garnet hit the ground and dissolved. 

“NO!” Steven cried, letting go of Pearl’s hand and running forward. “No, no, no!”

He picked up the two gemstones lying on the ground and looked up at Connie, eyes filled with tears. “No.”

Connie put her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Steven stood, and the two walked back to Pearl, who was still standing shellshocked not ten feet away from the battle. 

“No!” Morganite yelled angrily. “You can’t just take my Pearl!” She advanced on the two children, ribbon whip slicing through the air, Jasper a menacing presence at her side. 

Steven, still clutching the gemstones, summoned his bright pink bubble. This had an effect on Morganite and Jasper, who both froze in expressions of shock and recognition. 

“Just did, sucker!” Connie yelled, breaking the spell. She pointed her sword in the air in a burst of post-fight adrenaline. “For the Rebellion!”

She dropped her sword, Steven put down the Gems, and the two ran, pushing the bubble like a giant hamster ball away from Morganite and Jasper and everyone else, and towards the warp pad.

Pearl sat, curled small, in the bubble. She traced her fingers down the smooth interior and whispered “Pink.” 


	17. Aftermath

Jasper was confused.

No, confused wasn’t the right word for it. 

Jasper was...astounded. Enraged. Befuddled. 

Why would Pink Diamond steal a loyal Morganite’s Pearl, while disguised as an organic? Was that other organic also a Gem? Why did it have her sword? What was that fluffy-haired  _ thing,  _ and how had it fought like a Ruby but avoided her attacks with the grace of a Sapphire?

But all of that was irrelevant right now. Thinking later-action now. 

Morganite was angry. 

Jasper flinched as the ribbon whip sliced through a strawberry with terrifying ease, letting the juice ooze out. Disgusting. 

“How could you let them escape?” Morganite screamed, turning on Jasper. 

Jasper jumped into the Diamond salute. “My Morganite, my apologies. I fought to the best of my ability, and their escape was-”   
“It should not have  _ happened!”  _ Morganite cried, slashing her whip dangerously close to Jasper’s face. She wheeled on the Peridot. “Why did you just stand by and let it happen?”

“M-My Morganite!” the Peridot stammered. “I’m not a designed fighter, I-”

“You should have done something!” Morganite said with a crack of the ribbon. The Peridot flinched. “You should have stopped them!”   
“S-Stop!” the Lapis Lazuli said. Jasper raised an eyebrow. Bravery was not a Lapis Lazuli trait. 

“Lapis Lazuli, move out of the way,” Morganite said sharply, “Or I’ll have to poof two Gems for disobedience.”

“She didn’t do anything!” Peridot said, pointing a floating finger at Morganite. “Leave her alone!”

Jasper, out of the corner of her eye, noticed the small Amethyst huddled in a corner, watching with something that looked like fear. 

_ Pathetic,  _ Jasper thought half-heartedly, but this was getting ridiculous. 

She made eye contact with the Amethyst, who backed away immediately. 

_ What are times coming to when Quartz soldiers are scared of their own kind?  _

The Amethyst looked at the warp pad-twenty feet away, easy to cover the distance. But Morganite would notice.

The purple gem flinched, as if imagining a ribbon whip passing through her at the first sign of disobedience. 

Which was, of course, how it should be. 

But she looked so...so  _ small _ . Like a Pearl more than a Quartz. But she _was_ a Quartz...

And Quartzes looked out for their own kind. 

Jasper gestured towards the warp pad with her head and mouthed _Go_ _.  _

Amethyst leapt up and ran. Jasper turned to Morganite, who was advancing on Peridot and the Lapis Lazuli. 

“My Morganite, should we not discuss our next move?” Jasper said. “That bubble was clearly Pink Diamond’s work, so that “organic” must be her. What do we do now?” 

“You-you’re right,” Morganite said, turning away from the two Gems she had been threatening. “We should retreat to the Galaxy Warp and plan our next move.”   
“Thank you,” Peridot mouthed to Jasper. 

Jasper inclined her head the barest bit and moved towards the warp that had just seconds ago sent a small Quartz hurtling halfway around the world. 


	18. Pearl Of View

Pearl sat on the beach, feet tucked up neatly, arms encircling her legs. In the corner of her eye, she could see the flash of green that marked the hand ship waiting to grab her and take her back. Her fingers twiddled the sheer material that made a shawl and skirt, marking her as a Pearl. 

Rose wasn’t speaking to her-if indeed that was Rose. It sounded nothing like her, it looked only very slightly like her, and it acted sort of like her. 

Befriending humans? Certainly Rose. Befriending whatever that other Gem had been (Color Change Garnet??) that Jasper had defeated? Seemed reasonably Roselike. 

Giving a human her sword? 

One of Pearl’s arms went to her side. She stretched out her fingers and gently brushed them along Rose’s sword. The human had given it back as soon as they arrived, even though Rose had insisted that the human keep it at first. 

Rose barely seemed to  _ know  _ her. And now she was inside with that human, waiting anxiously for what appeared on closer inspection to be a Ruby and a Sapphire to reform.

Pearl retreated her arm and tucked her head down. She stayed like that for a while, listening to the waves crash on the shore and the gentle blowing of the wind. 

She saw Rose (?) coming across the beach towards her and hastily stood to greet her. 

“Hi Pearl,” Maybe-Rose said.  

“Rose,” Pearl said.

“About that,” Possible-Rose said, “I’m actually...my name is Steven.”

“Steven. Of course,” Pearl said. “And the disguise is for the same reason?”

“Disguise?” Rose-Steven said. She laughed a little, and it didn’t entirely sound like Rose but something close enough. “Oh boy. Uhh...this isn’t a disguise.”

Pearl tilted her head. “I’m sorry. What?”

Ros-wait, Steven sat down. “Okay. So...I’m not Rose Quartz. I’m Steven, a human boy. I have her powers, and her gemstone, but...I’m not her. She’s gone.”

“She’s gone,” Pearl whispered. “But..her gem?”

Ro-no,  _ Steven _ put his hand on his stomach. “I don’t know. I don’t have any of her memories...the only reason I know you is because she wrote a book for Dad before she had me. I don’t know how she knew you, or why, but…”

Pearl felt tears rise to her eyes and turned away.  _ Don’t let them see they hurt you,  _ the voices of her fellow Pearls whispered. 

“I’m sorry,” R-Steven said, standing up. He rubbed his arm. “I’m really sorry. I’ll um-I’ll leave you to think if you want.”

Pearl nodded, waited for Steven to leave, and then carefully sat down and cried. 

At some point, the sound of the waves on the shore began to sound like music, and Pearl started to sing.

 

[Pearl's Song](https://soundcloud.com/user-850880664/its-over-isnt-it-butterfly-effect-edition)

_ I was fine with the world and with being only just your Pearl _

_ I was fine, cause I knew, that they didn’t really matter when I had you  _

_ I was fine when they came and we fought like it was all some silly game _

_ Over Earth, and we had to choose _

_ After all those years, it never felt like we’d lose _

_ It’s over, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it over? It’s over, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it over?  _

_ They won, but she chose Earth, for she loved it, and she’s gone.  _

_ It’s over isn’t it, how can I move on. _

 

_ War and glory, reinvention, freedom, capture, her attention,  _

_ Trapped in darkness, my potential, _

_ Bold but broken-inconsequential! _

 

_ Who am I now in this world without her?  _

_ Rose is gone with no memories about Pearl, _

_ What does it matter, it’s already done,  _

_ Now how do I live with this “son”? _

 

_ It’s over, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it over? It’s over, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it over?  _

_ Earth won, and she chose it, did she love me, well she’s gone, _

_ It’s over, isn’t it, how can I move on? _ _  
_ _ It’s over, isn’t it, how do I move on? _

_ It’s over, isn’t it, I have to move on…. _

 

Pearl ripped the sheer material off and flung it into the sea. 


	19. Reformed

Connie had had to go home, and now it was just Steven, watching Garnet’s gems on a table while Pearl sat outside thinking and Greg did important car wash job things. 

Steven knew thinking and car wash job things were very important, but he couldn’t help but feel lonely. And a little worried. He remembered from training that if Garnet got hurt, she would just retreat into her gems and come back later, but he couldn’t help thinking that maybe something would go wrong and she wouldn’t come back. 

There was a soft knock at the door of the car wash, and Steven turned to see Pearl standing there. 

“Oh, hi,” he said, and opened the door for her. 

Pearl came in with soft footsteps and perched on a chair by the table. 

There was an awkward silence.

Pearl tilted her head at the gemstones. “A Ruby and a Sapphire?”   
Steven nodded his head. 

“How strange,” Pearl said. “I thought there was a Color Change Garnet with you at the-at the-at the battlefield.”

“Well, kind of,” Steven said. “She was Garnet, but I guess if you poof a fusion it goes back to being a Ruby and a Sapphire. Or, I mean, its components.” 

“A fusion?” Pearl said. “But that can’t be. Only gems of the same type can fuse. And Sapphires don’t fuse, generally.”   
“Well...huh,” Steven said. “I mean...they can do it, obviously, because Garnet. But if you’ve never heard of it….I bet it was just rare or something. Wow, she must be super special. That’s so cool!”   
Pearl looked at Steven with a sort of detached wistfulness. “I suppose you’re something like a mismatched fusion yourself.”

“Garnet said that too!” Steven said. He poked his own arm experimentally. “I guess I must be super special myself. Haha!”

Pearl’s mouth hesitantly curled into a small smile. 

Steven beamed. 

Ruby’s gem glowed brightly and lifted into the air, projecting a blob of light outwards that resolved quickly into an actual person who quickly fell to the ground.

“Woah!” Steven said, applauding happily.

Ruby smiled and bowed proudly. Aside from having sleeves, a blue star on her shirt, and a small vest, she looked no different from before. 

“I like the star,” Pearl said quietly. 

“Oh, thanks!” Ruby said. She did a double take. “Oh my gosh, it’s you! THE Pearl!”

Pearl blinked. “Hm?”   
“You’re her!” Ruby said, waving her hands in excitement and still standing on the table. “The Pearl! The one with the swords and the stabbies!” She pulled herself up to her full four feet proudly. “I crashed into you and saved Sapphire!”

“I remember that,” Pearl murmured to herself. “You’re that same Ruby. How strange.”   
“Yup!” Ruby said. “I did the star, see, because Steven had it, just like his rebel mom did! When she was a rebel. So I figured it was the rebel symbol! And it’s blue, like my Sapphy.” She smiled.   
“It’s great!” Steven said. He looked down at his shirt. “So my star is the rebellion symbol now?”   
Ruby nodded happily. “If you’re okay with it, that is.”   
“Of course!” Steven said.

“Rebellion?” Pearl said, looking from one to the other. “I don’t understand.”

“We’re gonna start one!” Steven said. “And make sure that, that, that Ruby and Sapphire can be together! And that the Pearls get, um, adequate compensation for their work! I think that’s how Connie pronounced it. And the star will be the symbol!”   
Pearl brushed her hands over the diamond shape on her shirt. “Another rebellion.”

“Yeah!” Steven said. “Oh, hey, you aren’t wearing that transparent stuff anymore.”

“No,” Pearl said, drawing herself up straight. “I am not.” She watched Steven carefully for a reaction.   
“Cool,” Steven said. 

Pearl inclined her head slightly and relaxed even more slightly.

Sapphire’s gem glowed lightly, attracting everyone’s attention. After a somehow subdued light show, Sapphire floated lightly to the table.

She too looked more or less the same, but the drape on her skirt was gone and her top now had a reddish-pink star on it.

“Hello, dear,” she said, taking Ruby’s hand. “Hello, Steven.” She turned her head slightly. “Hello, Pearl.”

Pearl nodded respectfully. 

“You both did the star!” Steven squealed. 

“So we did,” Sapphire said. “What a coincidence I certainly did not forsee.” 

“You’re so funny,” Ruby said.

“Oh, but it was your idea really,” Sapphire said. 

“No, but you did the coordination.”

“Oh, hush.”

Pearl picked at the table. Steven felt kind of awkward, so he stood up to find his dad and ask about lunch. 

There was a glow from behind him, and he whirled around to see Garnet standing on the table.

For the third time that day, Steven gasped in appreciation. Garnet was now wearing a much more put-together outfit-duotone pants, a shirt with a cotton candy star, and a bright red vest-but the most impressive part was her hair, which was still rather fluffy but now more squareish. Also, it was consistently purple.  

Garnet hopped off the table and waved hi to Pearl, smiling slightly goofily. Pearl looked up, startled, and waved back, eyes wide in a mixture of fear and astonishment. 

Steven gave them both a thumbs-up and went outside to ask his dad about getting lunch, for real. Magical alien costume changes were all well and good, but some things were always necessary.  


	20. Kindergarten Kid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thanks for sticking with me for 20 chapters! (more, if we're counting Butterfly Effect, which I guess we are)

Pearl sat on a tall rock watching with wide eyes as Connie swung her sword about wildly and Garnet yelled semi-helpful advice. 

She had been with Steven and the others for about a week, but that really felt like an eye-blink to her. Still, she couldn’t help forming some small opinions of the Gems (and humans?) who had taken her in.

Greg, the larger human, she hadn’t spoken to much. He seemed...nice, and he took good care of Steven, which Pearl could appreciate. She still couldn’t understand his connection to either Steven or Pink/Rose, though.

Connie, the little human, seemed very enthusiastic, although Pearl always had a nagging urge to simply snatch away that sword and give it back to Pink. That was  _ her  _ sword, her rebellious sword she wasn’t supposed to have, and the human could barely wield it anyway.

Pearl had already been asked shyly by Connie if she would teach her how to swordfight, but Pearl had shaken her head. She couldn’t remember how to swordfight herself anymore, really. Just that Connie should adjust her stance somehow, and hold the sword differently, and something about parrying. Maybe it would come back to her. Maybe she’d be able to hold a sword without crying. Maybe. 

Garnet. Garnet was a puzzle. Pearl hadn’t known fusions such as her could exist, and the three eyes thing startled her. Garnet had fashioned herself a pair of visors, shaped like an upside-down heart, that covered them neatly, but Pearl was still just a little unnerved by the fusion. 

And by her excitement around Pearl. Pearl couldn’t help feeling like she had disappointed Garnet somehow, by not being the rebel Garnet knew. Pearl could understand that. She was disappointed by herself too. 

And Steven. Steven...he was so much like Pink, and nothing like Pink, all at the same time. He had Rose’s laugh and her smile and her gem, of course, and her anger at Homeworld despite not really knowing that much. But he was different, too-he didn’t have her shield, or her fighting ability, or her appearance in any way aside from the curls. Or her speechmaking ability, at least not yet. And he was so shy around Pearl. Pink was never shy around Pearl.

Unless...Pearl had done something wrong, and that’s why she was sent away. 

But Steven didn’t seem angry. If she had done something wrong, Steven would never know. And neither would she. 

“Hey Pearl?” a small voice said, and Pearl snapped to attention. 

“Yes, my Morganite?”

“What?” the voice said, and Pearl looked down from the rock to see Steven standing there instead. 

“Oh,” Pearl said. “My apologies. What is it?”

“Um,” Steven said. Behind him, Connie politely shook Garnet’s hand and gave her the sword before running off to meet her parents. “Can you tell me more about the rebellion?” 

“What about it?” Pearl said. 

“Like, uh...why did it start?” Steven asked. 

Pearl froze. Why  _ did  _ it start? What had Pink wanted? How could she explain any of it? 

Maybe it would be better to show, not tell. 

“I’ll show you,” she said, and stood up. Steven turned to yell to the fusion “PEARL’S TAKING ME ON A FIELD TRIP!” and then followed her to the warp pad. 

Pearl executed a perfect warp and they arrived in the Prime Kindergarten. 

“What is this place?” Steven said, looking around fascinatedly. 

“This is the Prime Kindergarten,” Pearl said. “It was where many gems were created before the Rebellion.”   
“Wow,” Steven said. “It looks, um...depressing?”   
“I suppose it rather does,” Pearl said. 

“There’s no plants or anything,” Steven noted. “‘S like a desert.” 

“Yes,” Pearl said. 

“So how are gems made?” Steven said. 

“Well,” Pearl said, glad to be back on a topic she knew something about, “you see, the injectors er...inject material into the ground, and it coalesces into a gem, who then emerges fully formed from the ground, creating one of these holes!”

“Neat,” Steven said, looking around in interest. “So what does it have to do with the Rebellion?”

“Well, it-it,” Pearl said, “there was a-Rose, Pink, she didn’t like the-it’s sucking life out of the ground, we’re taking it away.”

“Huh?” Steven said. 

“The gems, being made,” Pearl said, talking faster and faster, “it takes the life out of the ground, it’s ruining Earth and we have to fight for it but we couldn’t, we couldn’t win we couldn’t fight and it’s my fault, if I had fought better we could have won and she could have been happy and-”

Without knowing how, she was on the ground, clutching her arms.

“Pearl?” someone said distantly.

“I’m sorry,” Pearl whispered and yelled, “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I-”

“Hey Pearl! Pearl! It’s me, Amethyst 5XM!” someone said, and something about the numbers made Pearl startle. 

“5XM?” she whispered. 

“Hi,” the voice said, and Pearl turned her head to see a familiar purple face next to her. 

“Amethyst,” she said.

“Hi,” Amethyst repeated. 

“I have to-” Pearl said, standing up. “I have to help Pink-”

“Hey, no, sit back down,” Amethyst said gently, and Pearl decided maybe she’d rather do that. “You’re not with her anymore, remember?”

“Morganite,” Pearl said a flash of fear going through her. “She’ll be so mad-”

“No, that’s not right either,” Amethyst said. “She’s not here. Okay? No one is mad at you, and you don’t have to say sorry. Can you tell me where we are?”

“Yes,” Pearl said, relieved. “Yes, we are at the Prime Kindergarten.”

“And who’s that?”

“Steven Universe, son of-of Rose,” Pearl managed. 

“Great,” Amethyst said. “See? You did great.”

“Wow,” Steven said. “Who are you?”

“This is Amethyst Facet 5XM,” Pearl said. 

“Commonly known as Shortstuff,” Amethyst said with a wave. 

“The Amethyst from the battlefield!” Steven said. “What was that, that just happened?”

“Pearl kind of flipped out, but she’ll live,” Amethyst said, standing up. 

Pearl slowly rose to her feet as well. “If-If Morganite isn’t here, then...where is she? Why aren’t you with her?”

“I made a daring escape, s’all,” Amethyst said. “No biggie. Okay, maybe there was a little help.”

“Cool!” Steven said. “What are you doing here?”

Amethyst suddenly looked shy. “This is...where I came out of.”

“Woah,” Steven said, looking at the injectors with more respect. 

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. “So I guess it felt..familiar.”

“Well...wanna come back with us?” Steven said hesitantly.

Amethyst blinked. “Come back?”

“Yeah,” Steven said. “Garnet-she was there at the strawberry place too-and Pearl and I are uh...staying there.”

Amethyst turned to Pearl and back to Steven, then back to Pearl. 

“Are you sure he’s safe?” she whispered loudly. Steven, behind her, looked mildly insulted.

“Yes,” Pearl said without hesitation. 

“And you...wouldn’t mind me being there?” Amethyst said shyly.

“Of course not!” Pearl said, startled. “Why would I?”

Amethyst shrugged, then beamed. “Sure, then.”

Steven punched a fist in the air. “Yes! New friend acquired!”

“Shall I warp us back, Steven?” Pearl asked. She almost said “my Steven”, but she still wasn’t sure if she had been officially dismissed from Morganite’s service or not. 

“Yeah!” Steven said. 

Pearl performed her warp and they arrived back at the house.

“Steven!” Garnet cried. “Where did you go?” 

Amethyst yelped. “Who’s that?”

“Who’s that?” Garnet asked in turn, warily taking a step back. 

“This is Amethyst!” Steven said. “Amethyst, this is Garnet. Garnet, Amethyst ran away from Morganite. Amethyst, Garnet’s a fusion and she’s great!”

“A fusion?” Amethyst said, confused. 

“But where did you find her?” Garnet asked. 

“Am I dismissed?” Pearl said quietly. 

Steven took a deep breath in and let it out. “We found her in the Kindergarten. She’s trustworthy. Garnet, maybe you can explain fusion. Pearl, you...you don’t need my permission to go do your own thing.”

“Oh,” Pearl said. “My apologies.”

“It’s fine,” Steven said. “It’s fine!”

“Okay,” Pearl said, nodding. “It’s fine.”

“Great,” Steven said. “Now, I’m gonna go get a snack-”

“Steven?” Pearl said. 

“Yeah?”

“I think..I think I could try and help Connie swordfight.”

“Really?”

“Y-yes.”

Steven beamed and flung his arms around Pearl. “Thank you so much!!”

“What’s this?” Pearl asked. “Why are you restraining me?”

Steven laughed. “It’s a hug! It means thank you, and I think you’re great!”

“Oh,” Pearl said. She hesitantly patted his head. “I think...I think you’re great too.”


	21. Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~~[s]== >Pearl: remem8er ~~  
> Pearl and Connie train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm fucking _sobbing_  
>  I lost my motivation to write for a lil while bc a play took over my life and my brain went A T T A C H, and then SU future got me hyped and I wrote a new chapter  
> AND THEN I GOT LOCKED OUT OF MY ACCOUNT AND HAD TO RESET MY PASSWORD.  
> anyway here's the new chapter I am SO sorry for the hiatus and I hope some of you are still willing to read this

Pearl carefully turned the blade over in her hands and tried to ignore that everyone was staring at her. 

“You can really swordfight?” Amethyst said, eyes wide. “That’s so cool!”

“Yes, I can...I could swordfight,” Pearl said. “Apparently I kept one of the swords.”   
She turned to Connie, who was holding Pink-Rose’s sword and looking very determined. “I believe you should, um...I believe you need to hold it with one hand. And keep the other behind your back, perhaps.”

Connie obeyed her instantly. 

“Okay, now. Everything begins with your stance. Remember…” Pearl trailed off.

“Remember what?” Connie said.  

Pearl swallowed hard. “Just...remember. To..to know your surroundings?” It was more of a question then a statement, but Connie didn’t seem to notice.    
“Okay,” Connie said. 

Pearl carefully clinked her sword against Connie’s. “This is a parry.”

Connie repeated the motion. “Parry.”   
“Thrust,” Pearl said, gesturing forwards with the sword. 

“Thrust.”

“I thrust, you parry.”

Connie blocked Pearl’s sword. 

“There we go.” 

 

The second day was easier. 

“I remembered my stance!” Connie said proudly, dropping into it immediately. “One hand forward, the other back!”

“Good!” Pearl said. “Now remember…”

She trailed off again. There was something tugging at her memory, but what?  _ Remember... _ remember to stay on guard? Maybe?

“Stay on guard,” she said. It didn’t feel quite right, but Connie nodded sharply anyway. 

They practiced again-Pearl was still very hesitant with her thrust, and Connie was as well, but they got very good at parrying. 

“Perhaps next time we can do it while moving,” Pearl said, and Connie beamed, and Pearl smiled back.

 

The third day, Connie showed up with bandages on her hands. 

“Blisters,” she explained when Steven exclaimed in worry. “I’ll be fine!”

“Are you sure?” Pearl said. 

“Yes,” Connie said.    
“Okay, just remember…”

Stars be damned. What  _ was  _ it?

“Protect...yourself,” she tried. Connie nodded, seeming a little confused. Pearl just sighed and they got to it. 

They tried moving-Pearl moving towards Connie as Connie walked backwards, then the other way, which Connie seemed to find easier. They practiced parrying on both sides. In the middle, Pearl spun around and blocked Connie’s thrust on pure instinct, which Connie found very impressive. 

“I wanna try!” Steven cried.    
Pearl tilted her head. “But you wield a shield, right?”   
“I mean...yeah,” Steven said. “But a shield can be rad too! Right?”

“Of course,” Pearl said. “Do you have your shield?”   
“Um, I can’t summon it on instinct or anything, but…”

“Maybe he can use a placeholder for now,” Connie suggested. 

The session was briefly adjourced while they found Steven a large piece of driftwood for a placeholder. 

“Okay, ready,” Connie said, settling into her stance. She and Steven stood back to back, clutching their weapons. 

Pearl gasped. “ _ I remember _ .”

“What?” Connie and Steven said. 

Pearl smiled, her eyes shining. “Remember what you fight for. Each other. You have to protect each other, because they’re your reason for fighting.”

Connie and Steven smiled at each other. 

“Alright then,” Pearl said. “Remember that, and our training can really begin.” 

**Author's Note:**

>  ~~Updates every other day!~~ Updates whenever-but-regularly, to quote a famous askblog.


End file.
